We live in a world of overconsumption; it’s no secret.
A sweet combination of technological progress and manipulation by media has enabled us to become rabid consumers. We’re buying more stuff than ever, out of a constant need to replace, upgrade, and be in possession of the latest and greatest. There’s even a word for it now: upgraditis.
In our consumerist society, shopping is the new religion.
Manufacturers in turn have become more efficient at churning out their products, and meanwhile advertisers have gotten savvier in promoting a need and lust for products where none previously existed.
And us consumers are duly tantalized.
And that creates demand for more goods, and it becomes a cycle that feeds into itself.
Bleeding Our Earth Dry
All those products didn’t come from out of nowhere.
Resources had to be tapped to manufacture them—either raw materials which had to be extracted and processed, or recycled materials which have to be processed as well. We see no end to mining the earth, exhausting and bleeding it dry just to create yet another glorious fancy product.
Energy, too, is needed in the manufacturing process. Embedded energy scientists call it. And embedded is such a strong word, as if energy is fully set in and fixed inside. A product then—even something as small and inconsequential as a drinking straw for instance—took energy to be created.
Most people don’t think about embedded energy when they buy a product, but it’s there. Our consumerist society has learned to ignore the environmental consequences and focus instead on immediate gratification brought to us by the products we buy.
NOWADAYS WE DON’T JUST BUY PRODUCTS, WE HAVE TO BUY ACCESSORIES FOR THOSE PRODUCTS TOO.
The mobile industry is one such segment which breeds a bewildering array of accessories for our smartphones and tablets. Think headsets, screen protectors, cases of all shapes and colors, chargers and cables, monopods, cutesy straps and lanyards.
Moore’s Law might have said computing technology advances roughly every two years, bringing the prices down, but mobile companies launch new phones at an even faster rate, each new iteration just a slightly improved version of the last one. And the onslaught of new phones induces manufacturers to create yet another glut of custom accessories for them. And so on and so forth. That’s a lot of embedded energy for something so fleeting and trivial.
Too Much Packaging Will Kill You
Those unboxing videos on YouTube is one telltale proof of just how ingrained consumerism has become in our society. These days it’s not enough to just buy something from the store, rip open the box, and try your purchase out. You have to document the unboxing too, and speak a few encouraging words about the product whether it’s a pair of shoes, or a new tablet, or a juicer.
It’s a little service these uploaders do to the online community and would-be purchasers. But sometimes you have to think, really, an unboxing for a screen protector? And all that excessive packaging for a premium quality screen protector?
WE DON’T JUST LIVE IN A MATERIALISTIC WORLD, WE LIVE IN AN OVER-PACKAGED WORLD TOO.
If we’re lucky, product packaging can either be an art and innovation just like this, or a complete joke just like the hundreds of thousands of over-packaged goods sold out there.
Edible packaging that doesn’t take a toll on the environment.
Whatever the case, packaging is meant to be neat, shiny, and sleek so as to be completely devoid of any traces of the elaborate processes, intensive energy, and carbon emissions involved in its production. It’s rather deceitful and yet comforting too if you come to think of it. You’re spared of the gory details, all you have before you is a brand new gadget.
The Things We Amass
Don’t get me wrong, consumerism isn’t all that evil; only when it’s done in excess. Think about all those trivial merchandise taking up shelf space, over-hyped and over-packaged.
Yes, these are exciting times for technology, and we can’t wait to sink our teeth on the latest and bestest, and that’s perfectly understandable. It’s just saddening that few people are aware of the hidden costs of all these products—costs that we extract from the environment.
So we take pictures of food and gardens, but we’ve forgotten to smell the flowers.
RATHER THAN AMASS STUFF, HOW ABOUT WE COLLECT EXPERIENCES INSTEAD?
Go on a vacation, enroll in a swimming class, eat out with friends, volunteer in charity. The satisfaction and joy and freedom of experiences are infinitely more powerful than the latest gadgets could ever hope to be.
Sure, that may or may not stop the onslaught of mindless products in the market, but who knows? Consumers speak with their wallet, and our refusal to buy sends the message to manufacturers loud and clear.
